As my winter vacation comes to a close I want to wish you all a very Happy New Year! Having a couple weeks off really helped me to get back on track and hopefully back to baking on a regular basis.

This January marks the three year anniversary of The Canadian Baker. Way back in 2006 I had nary an idea of what the world of blogging was let alone how many bloggers enjoyed baking as much as I do. Along the way I hope I encouraged some of you out there to give homemade a try - it isn't all that daunting! So, as we ring in 2009, I will continue to do my thing and perhaps someone will say "Hey, that doesn't look so hard!" or "I can do that!" Trust - you can do it. :)

As a Thank You to all of you, I'm giving away one copy of Little Cakes from the Whimsical Bakehouse published by Random House. All you need to do is leave a comment and I'll announce the winner on January 9, 2009.

So if you're thinking of dusting of your beaters, cookies are always an easy way to start baking. If you like chocolate, these Dark & Dangerous cookies will fit the bill. They're chocolatey, chewy and sweet. Not my most favourite cookie, but one that will satisfy a craving tout de suite.

Recipe: Dark and Dangerous Triple Chocolate Cookies

After looking through Home for the Holidays, I knew these cookies would be at the top of my list to make. They're small and remind me of a cookie that I like but don't buy often because I can easily eat the whole package.

Cakey chocolate sandwiches are exactly what their name implies. Two soft cocoa cookies sandwich a simple vanilla icing which makes for a tasty treat. The cookies are soft and need to completely cool before filling. They're a bit fragile so if your icing is stiff, you can add tiny amounts of cream to soften it up otherwise your cookie will break.

I found these cookies tasted better the next day after the icing and cookies had time to mingle together. They don't taste anything like a purchased cookie and if you put a plate of these out for kids they'll disappear.

As 2008 winds down, I want to wish you all a Happy New Year! Thanks for reading and I'll see you on the other side!

Recipe: Cakey Chocolate Sandwiches

I hope all of you are having a great holiday season! I know I am because my oven is finally fixed! Yahoo!

So soon I will be back to baking but until then, I share with you some fudge that I made recently. It's no-bake and super easy. If you've never attempted fudge, try it out...you will not be disappointed with the results. Use the best chocolate as possible so your final product is smooth and creamy. You can omit the cranberry topping and use one of the the variations in the recipe.

Happy days are here again..... :)

Recipe: Cranberry Jewel Fudge

What do you make when you're still waiting for your oven to be repaired and everyone around you wants something sweet? You make Haystacks is what you do.

No doubt you've heard about these cookies (which have been around for years) and know that they come in a multitude of variations. Most recipes include the dry chow mein noodles but I opted for corn flakes because I think they look neater.

They're really a kid-friendly no-bake cookie. Melt, stir, scoop, and chill. They were a little messy though, and more than once I had a stack fall apart on me. I pretty much left them in the shape of the measuring scoop I used because I was afraid to touch them - they're fragile before they firm up.

All in all, haystacks are an impressive, crunchy and easy treat to make and, as a bonus, the recipe makes a whole bunch. Make them smaller if you want more cookies and personalize them as you like. Topping with red, green and white sprinkles would definitely look festive on any cookie tray.

Recipe: Haystacks

Hi All!
I just wanted to let you guys know that I haven't abandoned my blog. Ever since I cooked turkey at Thanksgiving my oven had been kaput and giving me a horrendous error message on the display. It took a month for someone to look at it just to tell me that my touchpad is shot and a new one needs to be ordered from Calgary. This should take a week. I hope. I haven't been able to use my oven for over a month. It's depressing and I can't even coax myself to make no-bake/stovetop/frozen treats to post about. I just bought the newest Canadian Living "Home for the Holidays" magazine so I hope I'm back in action soon so I can get my bake on! Cheers!

I've been waiting for a long time to make these muffins - two years, in fact. It wasn't until a friend of mine bought me a bottle of Bickford coconut extract that I finally had my chance.

What starts out as a deceptively plain cupcake recipe with the addition of coconut turns out to be one super amazing treat. The cupcake is lovely and turns out perfectly cakey. The special element that takes it to the next level is the icing.

I thought that a cream cheese icing might be too heavy for coconut cupcakes. Though I love it, I've only had it on carrot cake and it has that certain taste that just goes with that cake. Rather than do my own icing, I followed the recipe and wow! The icing was fabulous and I probably wouldn't have known it contained cream cheese if I didn't make it myself. It was smooth, sweet and completely yummy.

I loved these little cakes even though I was only able to make ten rather than the suggested twelve. They reminded me of the packaged coconut Billot Logs I used to eat when I was a kid but a thousand times better. If you love coconut give them a try. You won't be disappointed!

Recipe: Coconut Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

Here we are - another month, another challenge. The special thing about this month's choice is that it is the first time we've made something that is vegan and/or gluten free. The participants this month had the option to make lavash traditionally (with flour) or gluten-free. I opted to make my lavash with flour and was pleased with the results.

Lavash is an Armenian flat cracker bread that pairs well with pretty much any type of dip or spread. To make it, a yeasted dough is rolled paper thin and baked. It can be topped with spices, sesame seeds, salt and even cinnamon. I chose to use whole cumin seeds since I was going to use them with an eggplant dip.

The whole process was very easy and much like making pizza dough. I scored the dough into rectangles but you can leave the dough whole and break it into shards when it is finished.

The final product came out very nice. I had no trouble with rolling out the dough. The crackers were crunchy and tasted exactly how you would imagine a cracker to taste. I enjoyed this challenge and would consider trying to make them again as my family liked them and patiently waited until I took a picture before devouring every last one.

Thanks to Natalie from Gluten A Go Go, and co-host Shel of Musings From the Fishbowl for this easy and fun challenge. Check out their websites for the complete recipe and check out the DB blogroll for hundreds of different interpretations of this recipe.